Crash and Burn
by beccatt
Summary: Being Tony Stark's personal pilot came with its own set of problems - but when those problems included attempted murder that resulted in Darcy Lewis being stranded in the wilderness with Captain America - well, things were bound to get interesting. Steve Rogers/Darcy Lewis
1. Chapter 1

Crash and Burn

By Beccatt

A/N – This is my first Avengers and I just had to write it because I just adore Darcy (and she goes pretty darn well with Steve) I wanted to write something different yet keep it somewhat canon, so this is my attempt. Not beta'd so all mistakes are my own (and please feel free to point them out!)

Chapter 1

Darcy ran through her pre-flight checklist one last time as she waited for her passenger to finally get his butt to the airport. Tony Stark was an absolutely annoying drama queen, but unfortunately, that was nothing new.

"Dammit, Stark. Any fucking day now, " she grumbled to herself, checking the time on her phone once again. Seriously - she should be used to it by now, Tony waiting until the last possible second to make his appearance and then as a result, making her stress level go through the roof. And a stressed Darcy was a snarly Darcy. The Hulk had nothing on her when she got her snarl on, everyone knew that. Tony knew that and yet he still pulled this shit, which made him either very brave or very stupid. Darcy had long since decided that he must have a bit of a death wish because that was the only explanation that made any sense to her. She had wanted to be in the air by now because she was trying to be responsible Darcy and make sure that Tony got to Los Angeles in one piece. And on time. But because this was her life, the storm system that had been brewing would be bound to spew over as soon as they got in the air. Typical. Of course, she was also trying to avoid having to listen to Tony bitching about his drink being sloshed around and spilling. Again. She had bought him a toddler sippy cup not long after she started working for him, but it had gone unappreciated.

Not one to let a sippy cup go to waste, it was now her regular flight mug. The fact that it drove Tony nuts when he saw her using it was just a bonus. Score one for Darcy. But even with the almost daily aggravation she had to endure, Darcy had few complaints. She had an awesome job, didn't have to work that many hours and got paid pretty darn well.

Following Jane to New York from New Mexico six months prior had pretty much been a no-brainer. Especially with Jane wailing that she couldn't do it without her and she needed Darcy there. Once in New York though, it had not taken Darcy long to have it more firmly cemented in her brain that Jane was delusional because she had true science minions to do her bidding now, ones that actually understood what the fuck Jane was talking about. Darcy had been a poli-sci major – and that was as close to science as her brain went. But still – it was a job and since her brand new spanking Political Science degree was pretty much useless in getting her a paying job, she could live with being Jane's non-sciency minion. And if it brought her that much closer to the eye candy that wandered the halls at Stark Tower? Well, that was just a bonus. Meeting Tony Stark had been a total kick in the pants it was quickly discovered they were like the Wonder Twins of sarcasm. It was obvious to Darcy that the billionaire made it his personal mission to insult as many people per day as possible, and since that was pretty much Darcy's goal in life also, they bonded. She had minimal contact with Bruce Banner (and avoided making him angry at all costs) but much to her chagrin, the other superheroes pretty much remained scarce, except for the random glimpses.

A few weeks after she had settled into her routine in the labs at Stark Tower, Darcy got a message that Pepper Potts had wanted to see her in her office. _THE_ Pepper Potts. Darcy had groaned, assuming that it had to do with the fact that she basically had very little job description and spent way too much time on the internet instead of doing any actual work. Even though technically she worked for Jane, everyone knew Pepper was pretty much in charge of everything Stark related. Including Tony Stark himself and Darcy had long since concluded that Pepper must be a little nuts herself to put up with him.

Feeling like she was being sent to the principal's office and was going to be expelled, Darcy had hesitantly made her way up to top floors of Stark Tower where Pepper's offices were located, already scripting in her head the call home to her parents to tell them that they were going to be the fortunate recipients of a daughter moving back home in the very near future. She was close to her parents but didn't really relish the thought of moving back home. Yep, this was her life.

To Darcy's surprise, however – she was not being fired – she was offered a new job. How Pepper knew she had a pilot license, she did not even want to know since Darcy usually kept that bit of info out of every day conversation. Not that she was trying to hide it – but following in her dad's footsteps as a third generation airline pilot had pretty much been her dad's dream, not hers. Still, she'd gone along with it after high school in a valiant attempt to avoid responsibility, going through flight school (where there had been no shortage of cute guys, total bonus) and actually managing to get her pilot license and instrument rating. Luckily for her (not so much for her dad), getting hired by an airline was pretty much a total fail, especially for someone without a lot of logged flight hours. Her dad finally admitted defeat when even his colleagues were being furloughed because of cutbacks, and grudgingly agreed that college might be a better idea. And so off to college Darcy went, her major changing more times than she cared to think about because Darcy was sure that was what college was for. At least that is what shed told herself, anyway. Finally, after fully embracing and enjoying the six year college plan, Darcy wound up just six credits short of getting her Political Science degree. That, of course, led to her interning in New Mexico with Jane, which wound up being the beginning of the end of normalcy. But that was fine with Darcy. She liked living in a world where Gods fell from the sky and superheroes protected the world. And being on first name basis with some of those superheroes?

Total cherry on top.

And now she was being offered a nice cushy job that again, had nothing to do with her major.

To Darcy's credit, she had tried to act like Pepper's job offer was something she actually needed to consider, especially after Pepper named a starting amount and informed her that Stark Industries would be paying for the extra training she would need to be rated for the company jet.

She had lasted approximately twenty-five seconds before politely accepting the position.

Ok, maybe not so much with the politeness and more of a crazy, maniacal loud, affirmation – but hey, whatever. She had been excited.

It had not occurred to Darcy to question the why of the offer until later. The answer she got was simple – and oddly made a lot of sense.

She was one of the few people that Tony Stark could stand to be around.

It did not take long for Darcy to learn the fate of his previous pilots – so aggravated by Stark during the frequent business flights that they either quit or just plain ran away. So Pepper was trying a different approach – hiring someone completely different. Her predecessors had much more experience than Darcy but they apparently also lacked something important.

A sense of humor.

So yep. Challenge accepted.

That had been seven months ago and Darcy had few complaints about her new job. Oh sure, sometimes Tony got on every last nerve but she usually gave as good as she got. The Stark jet, her new baby, was housed in a private airfield and with the very nice salary Darcy was racking in being Tony's on call personal pilot, she had herself set up in a pretty snazzy apartment in Manhattan not far from the airfield and Stark tower. Occasionally, she was loaned out to SHIELD but that didn't happen often since they had their own pilots and Stark could be a stingy bastard. She still worked for Jane on occasion but in more of a personal assistant capacity because apparently super-brains lacked the super-intelligence to eat when hungry and sleep when tired.

So pretty much glorified babysitter, but hey – she could live with that.

Pulling her mind from the past, Darcy sighed heavily and checked the time again. Ok, speaking of people needing babysitters, now Tony was really late. Her text messages were going unanswered. She hated that. Pepper had made it very clear to Darcy that Tony was needed in Los Angeles to be the voice of the Avengers, since he was still the only one who was allowing himself to be in the public eye, aside from an occasional appearance by the epitome of eye candy, Captain America himself. Pepper and Director Fury had stressed the importance of this meeting but apparently Tony had not gotten that memo. Or he had gotten the memo and ignored it, which was definitely the more likely scenario.

Finishing the pre-flight check list for the second time, Darcy began working on her flight play list, music being something she would go bat shit crazy without. Sometimes Tony joined her in the cockpit and they would listen to music and insult each other. Other times, he barely grunted a greeting and she did not see him for the duration of the flight. Either way, she just enjoyed her job. Not every girl could claim to have a billionaire as a good friend.

To her credit, she barely even flinched when something violently struck the cockpit window in front of her and exploded. Rolling her eyes, Darcy merely flicked the windshield wipers on and cleared the remnants of the water balloon from the glass. Turning in her seat, she called out, "Very funny, Tony. Doesn't that shit ever get old?"

The billionaire strutted into the expensive aircraft, a smirk firmly in place. "You know, it should. But yet... it doesn't."

Rolling her eyes once more, Darcy turned back to the controls. "Get your ass buckled in, we need to get in the air."

Tony attempted to look contrite but he wasn't very good at it. "You know, I really wish I could do that. But alas, I cannot. Something... really ultra important has come up and I find myself unable to be comply with SHEILD's orders, erm, request. So I brought a little friend to take my place." Tony gestured behind him. "Besides, the suits like him better than me anyway. They tend not to like it when I address them all as the Major Blowhards."

Turning back around, Darcy finally realized Tony was not alone. The blue spangled outfit was pretty much a dead give away as to the identify of Tony's 'little friend.' Although they had never been officially introduced, Darcy was fully aware of who he was. She was a girl and he was pretty. Steve Rogers wasn't around Stark Tower much though, but when he was, he always looked sad and unapproachable. Unfortunately, the opportunity had never presented itself for Darcy to corner him and try to get him to cheer up. Being frozen for seventy years obviously had taken his toll and Darcy couldn't blame the guy for being sad.

Looking forward to the chance to spend some time with Captain America, Darcy got up and stepped out of the cockpit, crossing her arms and giving her boss a patented Darcy look. "Really, Tony? Do Pepper and Director Fury know? Remember the last time you tried to get out of something like this? It didn't end well." Actually it had been pretty funny but Darcy was making an effort to be somewhat stern and snickering at the memory would ruin the effect.

Tony shrugged, nonplussed. "Yeah - but this time I got a live human replacement. How was I supposed to know that Robo-Stark was not fully functional yet to be trusted in public?"

Darcy did not even dignify that with a response, just shook her head. "Fine, whatever. It's your ass. But get off my plane so I can get us in the air. Pepper gave me my instructions and we are already_ way_ past leisurely flight time and making our way into 'putting the pedal to the metal' territory." Darcy shooed the billionaire away. "Captain Rogers, take a seat and I'll get us underway shortly." See? She could be professional. Darcy was proud of herself.

Her new passenger merely nodded and tucked his gear into the storage closet by the cockpit. Tony, never one to leave without one last word, tossed over his shoulder as he exited the aircraft, "Have fun, you two! Darcy, don't be mean to the Captain, you'll hurt his feelings." He paused. "Oh and Lewis? This is _my _plane."

Darcy just snorted and waved him away, closing the aircraft door before turning to the man standing awkwardly in the middle of the plane. "Hi, I'm Darcy Lewis, Tony's personal minion," she introduced, holding out her hand. "I've seen you around but we've never been properly introduced so here is me with the introducing."

Steve shook it carefully. "Uh, Steve Rogers."

Darcy nodded and gestured to a seat in the plush luxury jet. "You can either sit here or up in the cockpit with me, your call."

Steve looked unsure. "What does Tony usually do?"

She shrugged. "Depends on how bad he wants to annoy me, how much sugar he's eaten and his mood. When he's Chatty Cathy, he sits in the cockpit. If he is brooding, he sits back here."

Still looking unsure, Steve muttered, "Uh, I'll just sit back here." He took a seat and fastened the seat belt, looking out of place in his patriotic suit, minus the head cowl.

"Gotcha. I'll have us up in the air in a few. We're looking at about a four hour flight time but it may take a bit longer because there is the total mother of all storms that I need to get us around. Let me know if you need anything although Tony has this plane pretty well stocked with just about everything. Cos well, you know, he can." Giving Steve a short salute, Darcy headed back to the cockpit and started the engines.

She loved flying this jet, it was sleek, loaded and all kinds of awesome. It was hard to not think of it as 'hers' even though it had Stark Industries written all over it. And by 'all over it' she meant _all over it. _Even the toilet paper in lavatory had the Stark insignia, something that had rendered Darcy absolutely speechless when she first saw it. Stark could be one sick puppy when he wanted to be. His jet was her baby though. She and the chief mechanic, Ron, had become the very bestest of buds over their shared worship for this jet.

Ron had wasted little opportunity in telling Darcy that she was the only one Stark Industries had ever hired that was worthy of being behind the controls of the jet. Of course she was. Why? Cos she was awesome. Darcy's dad was only slightly envious every time Darcy would text him a picture of her in the cockpit, although her parents had yet to make the trek to New York to visit her. Christmas was sneaking up on them though, like the sneaky little bastard it was, so Darcy hoped to see her parents soon.

Getting clearance from the tower, Darcy wasted little time in getting them in the air. Thanks to Tony and his ridiculous procrastination, they were going to have to fly around the storm developing a few states away, since she but a mere pawn and always at the mercy of Mother Nature and her bitchy ways.

Even so, Darcy fucking loved her job.

TBC

A/N – Please let me know what you think! The next few chapters have been written so updates should not take too long.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N Thank you all so much for the reviews! Very much appreciated!

I would also like to take this opportunity to say a HUGE thank you to Jadzia Bear for stepping inand betaing this fic for me! So very much appreciated.

Chapter 2

They had been in the air for just under an hour when Darcy called back to her quiet passenger, "You ok back there, Captain Rogers?"

"Um, yeah," came the reply.

"You know, you can come sit up here if you feel like it," Darcy reminded him, checking the weather once more and cringing. She adjusted her route again to avoid the thunderstorms to the south. Usually she liked thunderstorms, even more so after meeting the God of Thunder. Just... not when she was in the air. Thunder plus flying equaled a nervous Darcy and that was something to be avoided at all costs.

It didn't take long before Darcy heard her passenger approaching the cockpit. She turned around and smiled at him in greeting, reaching over and patting the empty co-pilot seat.

Once he was seated, she noticed him taking a close look out the window.

"Where are we?" he finally asked, obviously noting the endless miles of trees and snow that they had been flying over for the past half hour.

"Just over the Canadian border. There is a bitch of a storm that I had hoped to avoid but thanks to Stark, we're taking a bit of a detour. Shouldn't put us in too late though, if the storm stays put."

Steve merely nodded. That sense of sadness that Darcy usually got from him practically bitch slapped her upside the head and if there was one thing she couldn't stand, it was melancholy. "So.. uh, how are you enjoying the new millennium?" she found herself asking lamely. Because really, how do you start a conversation with someone who was frozen for almost a century? That was not covered in her Stark manual. Not that she read it, but even so, she was sure it wasn't in there.

He didn't seem to mind the question, merely sending a rueful smile her way. "Well, it's sure been an adjustment."

Relieved that he hadn't taken offense, she returned his smile with a patented Darcy grin. "Yeah, but we have all kinds of awesome toys to play with now. The internet. Wii. X-Box. Facebook. Not to mention Starbucks. You've been to Starbucks right?" She didn't give him a chance to answer. "Of course you've been to Starbucks. Everyone's been to Starbucks. All kinds of awesome, am I right?"

"I just got the coffee of the day. It tasted like... coffee"

Darcy snorted. "Coffee of the day? Dude. You have to be more adventurous next time. Maybe try a cafe mocha, you'll love that shit." She was quiet for a moment. "Maybe we can take in the Starbucks experience if the suits don't keep you chained up for long, before we fly back."

Steve nodded, looking oddly pleased at the prospect.

"So... what about the other stuff? Video games? Internet stalking? I know you hang with Tony and he's not exactly Mr. Subtle when it comes to showing off his toys."

"Well, Tony challenged me to... I think it was Wii boxing but uh, he got a little mad when the controller thing went through his big flat tv," Steve admitted, apparently still feeling guilty if his tone was anything to go by.

Darcy snickered. "Oh yeah, I heard about that one. Although he did finally admit that he forgot to tell you to put the wrist strap on to prevent such a hilarious event."

"That would have been nice," Steve muttered darkly.

"Yeah, Tony can be a total dick but he is one of the good guys. Just not, you know... as good as you."

The smile he sent her way did funny things to her insides and Darcy shoved those feelings away violently. Getting her crush on with Captain America was not a smart move. She hated having crushes, what with the blushing, the total over-awareness and the stalkery shit she always felt compelled to do. Crushes were bad, end of story.

Finding herself self-conscious even after her stern mental scolding, Darcy directed her attention back to the instrument panel in front of her and grabbed her Ipod from its dock. "So... heard any music from this generation that has given you a happy?" she asked, going through the menu until she found the playlist she had already made for the flight.

Steve cringed slightly. "I haven't heard much. Just what Tony has played."

Darcy sympathy-cringed right along with him. "Oh. You poor bastard. Yeah. Going from grandpa music to Tony's metal probably wasn't a good thing." She paused. "No offense to your grandpa music," she added, making an effort to be somewhat tactful.

Steve let a small smile play along his lips. "None taken."

A slightly awkward silence filled the cockpit and if there was anything that Darcy hated, it was awkward silences. Well, not as much as she hated when the cheese fell off of her pizza or when her phone dropped in the toilet, but it was pretty high up there. To fill the silence, she started her playlist and relaxed slightly when the music started.

After several minutes, Steve finally asked, "What is this? It's not too bad. Well, not as bad as that stuff that Tony listens to."

Darcy beamed a smile in his direction. "See? I knew you had good taste. It's Amy Winehouse. Her music rocks but she was kind of on a downward spiral with no brakes. It came as a surprise to pretty much nobody when she was found dead with alcohol and god knows what else in her system."

"That's awful!" Steve looked horrified.

"Yep. Major sads. But she was only one in a long line of musicians before and after her that suffered a similar fate, dying way before their time. Fame can be a total bitch."

Steve merely sighed and mentally added this info to the long list of things that he would probably never get used to.

The last thing Steve had wanted to do today was fly all the way across the country and try to justify the Avengers usefulness to a bunch of politicians. Times may have changed but bureaucracy sure hadn't. The fact that Director Fury had put Tony in charge of representing the Initiative told him a lot. Mostly it told him that Fury did not agree with the need for the meeting so therefore he was only willing to send his most obnoxious representative - and not his most tactful.

Not that Tony was a bad guy. He wasn't. He was just... like a kid who had eaten too much sugar, which made him difficult to be around for long periods of time. He was reckless and tended to act first, think later which didn't always mesh with Steve's ingrained sense of leadership. But still, he could appreciate the fact that Tony was one of the few who treated Steve like a normal person. Like a man.

Not just as a thawed out super soldier from the forties.

So even with all the freezer jokes and digs about his lack of prowess with the dames, Steve felt like he owed Tony a bit of gratitude - because nobody else treated him with the profound lack of respect Tony did. So when Stark had asked if he would take his place at the meeting, Steve hadn't felt like he could say no.

The fact that he knew he'd see Dr. Foster's former assistant had nothing to do with it.

That's what Steve told himself, anyway. No, she had been right, they had never been formally introduced but boy, he'd noticed her. She was hard to miss, with her curvy figure and loud, infectious laugh. She looked like a throwback to his time and she had sparked his interest. He'd wanted to talk to her and in a different life, he might have tried. But saddling someone with his emotional baggage was not something he felt was fair to do. Maybe when he was better adjusted to this time.

But not yet.

Although it hadn't stopped him from agreeing to Tony's last minute request.

She was as pretty as he remembered though and even the one piece flight suit she wore did little to detract from her appearance. Catching a glimpse of Tony's all-knowing smirk as he had left the plane made Steve suddenly suspicious and there was a very real possibility that Stark had set him up, but he couldn't find it in himself to be upset.

He was looking forward to getting to know Darcy Lewis a little better.

A low hum reverberated through the cabin and the plane shuddered.

"Oh, mother pus bucket!" Darcy cried, immediately tensing and gluing her eyes to the controls. "Fucking Stark. He's a dead man."

"What happened?"

Darcy tossed an annoyed look in his direction. "Stark happened. He's been messing around with things that he should not be messing around with. Remember the cloaking shit on the helicarrier? Well, Tony decided he needed that toy too but for some reason, it just engaged and I can't get it to turn off."

"So, what exactly does that mean? How big of a problem is it?"

"Well, it's not the end of the world, but it pretty much means we're invisible up here, taking stealth craft to a whole new level. We'll have popped off of radar and the transponder is masked. Do I look like freakin' Wonder Woman here?" Darcy growled, attempting to fix the problem. "

"What?"

Darcy just waved her hand distractedly. "You know, Wonder Woman. Flies around in an invisible jet?"

Darcy decided that Steve was adorable when he was confused.

"So what are we going to do if we stay cloaked?"

Darcy snorted and shrugged. "Well, it's going to be an interesting call to the tower, that's for sure. Having to land an invisible plane is sure to create some panic. They won't be able to see us coming in on radar." Darcy grabbed her StarkPhone and attempted to place a call to her boss. "Oh. And suddenly this just gets worse," she muttered, fighting the urge to smash her phone against the wall. She tried radioing in on her headset only to be faced with the same silence the phone had given her.

"Oh man, this could be bad."

"How bad?"

"Like... bad, bad. Tony's prototype has apparently created an absolute fucking blackout. No radio signal or phone signal and this is a badass Stark Industries phone that would probably even work in outer space. I just don't understand what happened though – the prototype shouldn't even have been operational. Not to mention that I gave Tony explicit instructions of what would happen if he fucked around with my plane while I was at the controls. He assured me he'd put his own ass in danger for any test flights."

Darcy was beginning to get a very bad feeling that this was not so much an accidental misfire and more of a sinister plot of badness. Oh sure, she knew her job came with some risk – Tony Stark was not a man without a buttload of enemies. But this... this was not something she was prepared for.

"Okay – worst case scenario – what are we looking at?" Steve asked, sounding very much like a soldier.

Darcy thought for a moment. "Well, worst case scenario is that we try to land blindly and get mowed down by some big ass 747 because the tower doesn't know we're there. Or we get treated like a terrorist threat."

"What about landing at an empty airfield?"

"That is definitely an option with a more pleasing outcome. Definitely doable, as long as we can find one that can accommodate the jet. Luckily, we're not a big ass 747."

Steve nodded and without being asked, grabbed the map binder at his feet.

Darcy could feel the adrenaline easing out of her bloodstream, her heart rate nearing a more reasonable number. Fixing Tony's fuck-ups wasn't covered in the flight training she'd had and she quickly decided that in the grand scheme of things, this could have been a much worse Tony fuck-up scenario.

What happened in the next moment, though, made Darcy a firm believer in the power of jinxing. She would never ever jinx herself again.

Ever.

A muffled pop sounded at the rear of the aircraft and traveled forward, a wave of energy passing through the entire plane, leaving utter disbelief and chaos in its wake.

And not just any chaos, but the kind of chaos that makes anything else pale in comparison when thousands of feet in the air and flying over nothing but trees, mountains and snow.

Almost in unison, every piece of equipment with an on/off switch shut down and to Darcy's ever lasting chagrin, that included the engines and every piece of equipment that kept them in the air.

And her Ipod.

"Holy fucking shit," slipped through her lips as she tried frantically to restart the engines, knowing it was futile even as she did it, that everything mechanical was fried. The plane immediately started losing altitude.

"What just happened?" Steve asked, his tone telling Darcy that he had switched to Steve, super soldier, mode.

She fought with the controls, trying to keep the nose level even as they lost more altitude. "I think it was some sort of EMP. Electromagnetic pulse. Took out everything, we're going down."

"Parachutes. Where are they?"

Darcy tipped her head behind her. "In the closet where you put your stuff."

The speed that Steve left the cockpit was impressive. Unfortunately, his return was just as quick and the lack of parachutes in his possession was very telling.

"Not there?" Darcy's feeling of dread increased ten fold. This wasn't a random accident, this was a very intricate assassination attempt and a darn good one, leaving her as collateral damage.

"No."

"And just when this day couldn't get any worse. Ok. Buckle in, I'm going to need your help keeping the nose up. We're basically a very expensive glider right now and I'm going to need to find us someplace survivable to crash." Darcy took a deep breath before letting it out slowly. "If I can."

Steve merely nodded, knowing the score. Unfortunately, this was a familiar scenario for him and it hadn't really ended well for him the last time.

Time seemed to slow down and Darcy could feel the strain of having her eyes glued to the horizon, not even daring to blink. Luck did not seem to be in their favor as their altitude dropped and there was yet to be a break in the solid wall of snow-tipped trees below them.

This was not going to end well.

Seemingly at the very last possible second, salvation appeared in the distance. Darcy estimated they would just barely be able to skim the top of the trees and attempt a water landing in the small bit of water that had opened up next to a tall cliff face below them. They say life flashes before your eyes when you are just about to die – and Darcy couldn't' say they were wrong.

Taking a deep breath, she spared a glance at her new co-pilot. She offered him a quick smile. "Well, Captain Rogers, it was nice meeting you."

The intensity of the look he sent her way almost made her shiver. "It's Steve. And believe me, the pleasure was mine."

She did not have time to give him a response, the plane losing altitude quicker than she had planned. This was going to end badly, she had no doubt. "Ok, let's do a Miracle on the Hudson," she paused. "Or uh, Miracle on Whatever Body of Water this is. I just need to pull a Captain Sully."

Steve did not have time to ask what she meant as the small lake rushed up to meet them. There was no way to slow their speed so the impact of the plane hitting the water was crushing and the windows immediately blew out. Cold was the first thing to register as the plane slowed down and skimmed across the water's surface. Darcy had done it – she had put them down in the water and the plane was still more or less intact.

Water came pouring in and flooded the cockpit. Knowing they needed to get out, Steve ripped his seat belt off and stood, grabbing Darcy's seatbelt and tearing it off of her like it was tissue paper. She was unconscious with a large laceration to her temple bleeding heavily. Steve hoped that was her only injury because he had to move her and quickly. Not wasting any time, he gathered her in his arms and headed to the main cabin, the plane still floating on the water surface but gaining water by the second. It wouldn't be long before it was pulled under.

Steve did not bother putting Darcy down to open the cabin door, he merely gave it one swift kick and it shattered off the door frame and splashed into the water a few feet away The slide inflated like it was supposed to but it was useless in this situation. From experience, Steve knew he could survive the cold but he had little doubt that it would not take Darcy long to succumb to the frigid temperatures. His first priority was getting her off this plane and someplace dry. This was not a new scenario for him, landing in the middle of nowhere, but Darcy was his main priority.

Steve ripped the slide away from the cabin door and placed Darcy on it, hoping it would stay inflated long enough to keep her out of the water until they reached solid ground. He couldn't do anything about her feet and legs being soaked right now, he could only work on getting her to shore and finding shelter.

This was what he had been trained for, he had to remind himself of that, even if the enemy he was fighting was the freezing temperature.

Reaching the shore with his precious cargo, Steve spared a quick glance behind him, his feelings mixed as he witnessed the expensive jet slide under the surface of the water. Mentally marking the spot where it had gone under, Steve got busy with the next order of business.

Finding shelter.

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

Many thanks to Jadzia Bear for the awesome beta! And also thank you to everyone who has reviewed! Very much appreciated!

Chapter 3

The first thing Darcy became aware of was what felt like an entire trumpet section of a really loud marching band pounding through her head. God, she hated trumpets. She hated them even more now.

Everything hurt.

Her brain felt fuzzy, but unfortunately not fuzzy enough to mask the pain. Son of a bitch.

The memory of why she was in so much pain slammed back into her awareness, making the pain in her head explode to a whole new level.

"Ow fuck," she mumbled, and because Darcy could sometimes be a masochist, she forced her eyes to open.

Not a smart move when facing the most intense headache of her life.

"Are you alright?"

Darcy willed her eyeballs to move to the right, where the voice had come from.

The stars of his spangly suit hurt her eyes, but then, probably anything would have hurt at that point. "Hey," she greeted weakly. Yep, there was no doubt about it. Darcy was currently a damsel in distress. God, she hated being that girl, but that didn't stop her from complaining. "My head hurts."

"Yes, you hit your head when we landed."

"We landed okay? I pulled off a water landing?" Darcy had to ask, because really, she had pretty much expected that the jet would shatter on impact, leaving her very dead in the process. And they said she didn't have skills.

"Yes, you did great."

Darcy finally felt brave enough to look around, the uneven grey walls were unfamiliar, but the fire next to her felt good. Really good. "Where are we? What happened?"

"I found a cave and built a fire."

"Of course you did." She squinted in his direction, relieved that the pain in her head was finally easing. "Why are you all the way over there?"

He looked embarrassed. "I, uh, had to take off your jumpsuit. It was wet."

Darcy looked down and sure enough, she was clad in undies and a bra. Aw man, she was just wearing her functional and comfy cotton set. A little lace in front of Captain America wouldn't have been too much to ask, would it? She frowned. "But that doesn't explain why you are all the way over there and not by the fire."

There was a moment of silence. "I didn't want to make you uncomfortable."

She had to think for a moment what he meant with that comment. Why would she be uncomfortable? It finally dawned on her what he was referring to and if she was in any position to get up and bitch slap him, she would. "Dude, seriously? I'm not going to be that girl that screams pervert because you sit next to me while I am not wearing all of my clothes. Geez. Get over here."

He finally did as she commanded, clearly not comfortable being in closer quarters with her while she was in her unmentionables. "See? That wasn't so tough, was it?" Darcy reached out and patted his arm in a patronizing manner, then frowned. "What the fuck? Dude, you're soaking wet. Why are you still wearing your wet spangles?"

His downcast eyes and silence gave her the answer. Seriously? Darcy sat up carefully, taking care not to move too quickly. "Okay, now you're just being stupid and all captain american-y. This is pretty much life or death here, right? So why are you freaking out about showing some skin?"

"I... uh, told you. I didn't want to make things awkward for you. Besides, I can handle the cold better than a normal person."

"Do you _like_ being cold?"

"No. Not particularly."

Darcy barely refrained from rolling her eyes, but only because she knew it would bring more pain than she wanted to deal with. "So get with the stripping. Geez. I can't believe I even have to tell you that."

"Are you sure?"

"Am I sure that I want you to get out of your wet clothes and warm up by the very awesome fire you started? Yes. Duh."

Darcy was proud of herself that she was able to avert her eyes as Steve stripped his suit off. Okay, fine... so she peeked a little, but she couldn't help it. Captain America wore boxer briefs. Huh. She had pegged him for a briefs kind of guy. She watched as he carefully laid the suit over a rock near the fire to dry, next to her own jump suit. A shiver ran through her which she wanted to blame on the cold but if she was honest, it was the sight of a bare-chested superhero standing awkwardly next to her. That was some nice shit to behold.

But the stilted way he was holding himself was pretty much with the ridiculous. "Ok, we're going to have to lay out some ground rules here," Darcy announced suddenly, patting the spot next to her. "Now, sit down."

"I will behave like a gentleman, I assure you," Steve protested, sounding almost offended as he lowered himself to the ground next to her.

Darcy couldn't help the snort that escaped. "Seriously? You really think that's what I meant? Believe me, that thought never even occurred to me. No, what I meant was that I don't want you acting all awkward and shit because we are in this situation. Okay?"

He nodded carefully, tensing as Darcy pressed herself closer to his side. "Relax. I'm still cold and even sitting around in a wet suit, you are still like a furnace." She felt his muscles relax and she sighed heavily. Her body still ached but the pain in her head had faded to a mere dull pounding. She could live with that.

"You weren't hurt in the crash, were you?" Darcy asked, the thought suddenly crossing her mind.

Steve shook his head. "No. As far as crashes go, it was a pretty gentle one."

"Yeah, cause I've got some serious ninja pilot skills." She sighed again. "We have got some bigger problems that we need to discuss, though."

"Which one should we discuss first?"

Darcy thought for a moment. "I think maybe we should start with who wanted Stark dead, although I'm sure it's a pretty lengthy list. How last minute was it that he made you go in his place?"

"It was pretty last minute. He asked me, I grabbed my stuff and we headed to the airport. That took maybe twenty minutes from the time he asked and we took off."

"Wow, you've got some fast packing skills. Impressive."

He was quiet for a moment. "I don't have a lot... so it doesn't take me long."

"Ah. Makes sense." Darcy wanted to add something to that, but didn't quite know how to phrase 'sorry you were frozen for seventy years and have nothing', so she just left it alone. " Okay, so I guess we can pretty safely assume that Tony was the target today and not you."

"No chance it was accidental?"

"Hell no. The cloaking thing, okay maybe. Tony messes shit up all the time. But EMP's don't just spontaneously happen. Whoever did it was smart and had access to some really high tech equipment. First, they made it so the plane dropped off radar, then they disable the plane and everything mechanical on board. Which, coincidentally, would include any of Tony's backup suits or any of his technology. So the plane crashes and even if Search and Rescue are sent out, they will search where the plane was last seen on radar. We are miles away from that." She ran her hands agitatedly through her hair. "Okay, we're screwed."

"Hey. We are alive. That wasn't supposed to happen, right?"

"You're one of those annoyingly optimistic people, aren't you? The glass is never half empty, it's always half full?" Darcy accused, rolling her eyes. Should she really have expected different?

A small smile played along his lips. "I've been called worse."

Darcy snorted indelicately. "I can imagine, especially since you have Tony Stark for a friend."

"Yeah."

"Okay... now for the big question. What are we going to do?" Darcy looked around the shelter that Steve had found for them. From what was visible beyond the light of the fire, it appeared to be a large cave with a tunnel that led to the outside. "Geez, how lucky were we to not only survive, but to find this place?"

"Now who's looking at things from the glass half full angle?"

Darcy shrugged. "Well, as you pointed out, we're still alive. How far are we from the lake?"

"About a mile or so."

Darcy stared at him, her jaw dropping. "You carried me over a mile in the snow, while I was sleeping the sleep of the knocked unconscious? I'm not exactly a lightweight here."

"Super soldier, remember?"

"Oh, right." Darcy winced as she shifted positions. "Oh man, I have got to stand up, I'm dying here. My butt is asleep, for one thing." She tried moving again. "Um... can you help me up?"

He got to his feet carefully and offered his hand to her. Darcy tried not to think of the fact that she was in her underwear; not that she was self-conscious about her body, but there was no denying that curvy was an apt description of her assets. And not to mention she had an almost naked superhero in front of her who was trying to keep his eyes averted but wound up just drawing more attention to the fact that he obviously really wanted to look.

Not awkward at all. Nope.

Once firmly on her feet, Darcy took stock of her aches. Her head still hurt but it was bearable and mostly she just felt like she had been pounded and not in the pleasurable way. She'd live, she decided. As if in affirmation, her stomach grumbled loudly.

"Hungry?"

Her stomach growled again. "I think that is a big yes." She walked over to her soggy jumpsuit. "Now, let's just hope there is not a major sog factor to deal with." Her hands reached into one of the deep pockets. "Score!" she exclaimed, pulling out a handful of Power bars before pilfering through the other pockets.

A small pile of granola bars grew in front of her. "Oh yeah! They all survived!"

"Do you always carry so much food with you?"

The look she gave him bordered on incredulous. "Well, duh. Why do you think I wear this ugly thing?" she held up her jumpsuit. "The amount of pockets it has cannot be rivaled." She tossed him a granola bar, rolling her eyes when it fell to the ground due to his gentlemanly staring at the ground rather than her rack.

Okay, this was getting ridiculous. She stalked over to him and picked up the granola bar and held it out. Was he blushing? Oh for crying out loud. Now this was beyond ridiculous. They had survived a plane crash, were stranded in buttfuck nowhere and he had not only saved her from drowning, but she was also nice and warm thanks to his seriously epic boy scout skills – yet he couldn't look at her without blushing?

Crossing her arms across her chest, she gave him a stern look. "Alright, look. I realize you grew up in a different era but believe me, women had boobs back then too. It's okay to look at me." To make her point, she looked him up and down before meeting his embarrassed gaze. The sight that beheld her almost distracted her, because damn - he was _cut_, but she prevailed. "This is just going to be about ten shades of awkward if you can't even look at me without getting all twitchy. So I mean it. Look at me."

And he did. And not just a little glance, but a frank perusal that started at her chest and traveled downward, his eyes practically devouring her entire body.

Whoa. She could be wrong, but she was sure the temperature just spiked a few hundred degrees. That was some seriously hot shit.

"Thank you," he finally muttered, offering her a tiny smile. "I'm sorry if I am making things weird for you."

"The only reason I'm uncomfortable is because you're acting uncomfortable. It's not a big deal to me if you look, especially since I think we're going to be stuck with each other for a while. And hey, if you like what you see? Even better." With that said, Darcy ripped open her granola bar and took a big bite, grinning at him.

He shook his head in defeat. "You're something else, Miss Lewis," he announced, opening his own granola bar and shoving it in his mouth. He was starving.

"You have no idea."

–

After they had eaten, they sat back down by the fire. "Ok, tomorrow? We have to do something about this floor. It is not butt friendly," Darcy declared.

"Yeah, I have thought about that. I was going to gather some pine needles and make a few beds."

"How very Macgyver of you."

"What?"

She waved her hand dismissively. "Eh, don't worry about it. So... think we should make with the short term planning?" At his nod, she continued, "Okay, so let's talk about our options. I think we can pretty much count on the calvary _not_ riding to our rescue, right? They'll be looking for us where the cloaking shields were thrown up, not where we actually crashed. So yeah, calvary? Not going to be an option. So... that pretty much leaves trying to hike out of here."

"Or staying put."

"Say what?"

"Staying put is a valid option. It's December, it's winter..."

"And cold as fuck."

Even though he cringed slightly at Darcy's use of colorful language, he nodded. "Right. It's cold. I can't guarantee your survival if we try to hike out of here. I have no idea where we are or how far away civilization is, so I'm not about to leave you alone here while I try to find help, it would leave too much to chance. What if there's a blizzard? We lucked out with the cave."

Tiny lines furrowed Darcy's brow. "Yeah, I've seen the movie _Alive_ and it doesn't paint a pretty picture. At all." She paused. "So you think we should just stick it out? What – wait for warmer weather?"

"Yes. Strategically, it makes the most sense. Getting rescued won't make much of a difference if you are too dead to enjoy it."

"Wow, go you with the sarcasm. Didn't know you had it in you."

"Must be your influence." He couldn't quite stop the yawn that insisted on escaping. "Ok, think we should try to get some sleep. I'm going to do some recon tomorrow, see what we're up against."

"Too bad we can't get the stuff on the plane."

He was silent for a moment. "I can possibly dive down and see if I can salvage anything."

"So you're Aquaman too? Sweet. We can talk about it later," Darcy informed him, stretching out and trying to get as comfortable as she could on the hard floor. But at least she was somewhat warm. "We can make with the planning and all that fun stuff, but right now, I am too tie-tie. I'm going to sleep."

And just like that, she was out. Steve tended to the fire, checked his suit to see if it was dry and decided it was still too wet to put on and be comfortable. It would dry quicker than Darcy's jump suit just because of the material but laying around in his underwear was a bit difficult for him, especially with the similarly clad woman next to him. He'd had little experience with the opposite sex, other than his almost relationship with Peggy before he'd been frozen. Still, by Darcy's easy acceptance of the situation, Steve knew he owed her the same consideration, except he couldn't quite help that he was still almost as shy as he'd been before the serum changed his life.

But he'd make an attempt, especially since it looked like they were going to be stuck with each other for a bit.

And Steve found he really couldn't be too upset about that fact. Yep, life was about to get interesting.

tbc


End file.
